Paraphrased from the New York Times article-- this case could be affected by the presidential election. The new president does get to make appointments in the DOJ- appointments that may or may not be in favor of prosecuting Microsoft. My own thoughts- While Gore would be expected to follow the Clinton/Gore administration policy, I'm not so certain of GWB. The Times seems to think that he takes a narrower view, but they are a liberal paper. In any event Gates and company could certainly throw enough soft money around if they wanted to. 100 million or 1 billion would be pocket change for them. My guess is that in the long term money will win out over the facts and Microsoft will get off with a slap on the wrist-- if that.
Slashdot Mirror
Paraphrased from the New York Times article-- this case could be affected by the presidential election. The new president does get to make appointments in the DOJ- appointments that may or may not be in favor of prosecuting Microsoft. My own thoughts- While Gore would be expected to follow the Clinton/Gore administration policy, I'm not so certain of GWB. The Times seems to think that he takes a narrower view, but they are a liberal paper. In any event Gates and company could certainly throw enough soft money around if they wanted to. 100 million or 1 billion would be pocket change for them. My guess is that in the long term money will win out over the facts and Microsoft will get off with a slap on the wrist-- if that.